SSD in a PPC Mac
Well, the opportunity to get a SSD drive came up.
While I knew that the drive would never realize it’s full potential in a G4, I figured that I could use it until I had a machine that could allow the drive to flex it’s muscle.
Install is a breeze, and traditional 3.5” drive mounts are easily used when a SSD housing such as the Icy Dock is used.
Of course, one can install a SSD without a mount adapter because they don’t have any moving parts that may cause movement due to vibration.
I know of some who have used Velcro straps to hold a SSD in place in other than a drive bay.
Once installed, formatted and system files and apps cloned to the SSD, I used Quick Bench to duplicate the tests used in previous test sessions.
Tests were done in a 2002 Quicksilver using a Seritek 1Ve2+2 PCI controller.
I have added the SSD results to the original Raptor vs. AAKS test results.
SSD vs. Raptor vs. AAKS
The test results show that the SSD easily out performs the other two drives.
I used the Aja Test suite to put the SSD through some tests, and saw peak read speeds of 127.9 MB/s, with peak Writes of 122.8 MB/s.
Here are three screen shots showing the SSD, a WD AAKS SATA and a WD AAKB ATA using a 128 MB file test averages to compare performance.
Absolutely NO Contest as to which drive is better with regard to video file handling.
SSD is over 2x as fast as the ATA drive, and 1.4x as fast as the SATA drive.
Hands on, the system is fast, smooth and responsive.
A SSD is probably the ultimate drive for a PPC Mac, with the possible exception being a Velociraptor 6.0 Gbps drive.
If I can get my hands on one of those, I will gladly add some more test results.....
As FAST as you can go!!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
